1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an improved distributed data processing system and in particular to a method and apparatus for managing applications within a distributed data processing system. Still more particularly, the present invention provides an approved method and apparatus for modifying applications in a distributed data processing system.
2. Description of Related Art
A computer includes both a physical machine, namely the hardware, and the instructions which cause the physical machine to operate, namely the software. Software includes both application and operating system programs. If the program is simply to do tasks for a user, such as solving specific problems, it is referred to as application software. If a program controls the hardware of the computer and the execution of the application programs, it is called operating system software. System software further includes the operating system, the program that controls the actual computer or central processing unit (CPU), and device drivers that control the input and output devices (I/O) such as printers and terminals.
A number of application programs are usually present waiting to use the CPU. The operating system determines which program will run next, how much of the CPU time it will be allowed to use, and what other computer resources the application will be allowed to access and use. Further, each application program will require a special input or output device and the application program must transfer its data to the operating system, which controls the device drivers.
A network containing a number of computers may be formed by having these computers, also referred to as "nodes" or "network computers", communicate with each other over one or more communications links, which is an aggregation which is a computer network. Today, many computer workstations are connected to other workstations, file servers, or other resources in a network. Each computer on a network is connected to the network via an adapter card or other similar means, which provides an ability to establish a communications link to the network.
Many types of programs are presently available in both a stand alone form and from a server in a network that employ various rules for decision making. In addition, some programs are executed in a "multi-tier" distributed environment in which applications may use multiple computers to solve specific problems. It is often desirable to modify only the portion of the application on a server as opposed to modifying the portion of the application on a client machine. Modification of the application on the server eliminates the need to redistribute the application to various clients as in the case of changes made to the portion of an application on a client machine. Presently, changes to server side applications have been accomplished by modifying the server side source code and then recompiling the source code. This process involves much overhead and in some cases where source code is not available, it is not possible to use this process.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an improved method and apparatus for modifying applications in a distributed data processing system.